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Business - Sage scuppers Multisoft line

With the closure of its Alton, Hampshire, office last week, Newcastle-based PC accounts software house SageSoft signalled the end of the line for the former Multisoft family.

A spokesperson said the 40 or so staff based at Alton were all offered jobs at Sage headquarters. But at the same time, Sage announced its intention to ship Acuity Applications from its new US subsidiary, State of the Art (SOTA), into the UK.

Acuity has ousted its software sibling as the main multi-user, client/server application in the Sage family. SageSoft MD Graham Wylie said the Acuity Applications were being localised to cope with VAT and UK accountancy practice, and that the company hoped to announce a shipment date in the near future.

A successful mid-range company in its own right during the 1980s, Multisoft was taken over by Sage and last year absorbed into the parent group as Sage Multisoft. When Sage rebranded its product range early this year, the multi-user Multisoft code was lined up to be revitalised as Sage Line 200, but executives admitted to continuing problems in delivering a revitalised, Windows NT-compatible version.

As a leading supplier of software in North America, the SOTA acquisition boosted Sage’s expansion plans in the US. It now appears to have helped the company short-circuit its long-term strategy to move upmarket.